Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier Read Free Book Online Page B

Westwoods’ driveway. Willie must have been keeping an eye out for her because she popped out of the house as soon as Lucy braked.
    “Got a minute?” she asked.
    “Sure,” said Lucy, wondering what was up.
    “Girls, go on inside. There’s some Fuji water in the fridge.”
    The girls looked at each other, shrugged, and disappeared inside.
    “I didn’t want to talk about this in front of them,” said Willie, whispering.
    “Right,” said Lucy.
    “But I just wanted to let you know that Renee LaChance is spending an awful lot of unsupervised time with that kid with the motorcycle.”
    “Preston.”
    Willie nodded. “I see him coming out of her house all the time when Frankie isn’t home.”
    “Have you told Frankie about this?”
    “No, and I’m not going to. I mind my own business,” said Willie. “Besides, that’s not the point. The point is that once this sort of thing starts it spreads like wildfire. I’m worried about Sassie and Sara.”
    Lucy was beginning to think Willie was out of her mind. “It’s hardly catching, like measles.”
    “Trust me on this, it’s worse. Once one starts they all want to do it. Frankly, I’m worried about those bus rides with the football team. Things could get out of hand.”
    “I really don’t think you have to worry,” said Lucy, patting her hand. “I just interviewed Coach Burkhart and he seems to have things well in hand. I’m sure he won’t let things get out of control.”
    “I hope so. You have to watch them every minute, you know. They’re sly. I just saw a Doctor Phil show about it.”
    Lucy was relieved to see Sara coming out of the house, water bottle in hand. “Well, thanks for the warning. I’ve got to get my meatloaf in the oven.”
    “Oh, I almost forgot. How did the doggie biscuits come out?”
    “Great,” said Lucy, lying through her teeth. “Fabulous. Thanks for the recipe.” Sara hopped in the car and Lucy backed out of the driveway. “Are Sassie and her mom close?” she asked as she accelerated down the street.
    “I dunno.”
    Why did she even try? wondered Lucy, braking and turning into her own driveway.

Chapter 5
    W ith the beginning of the school year looming on the horizon, the last weeks of summer seemed to speed up. It was something Lucy noticed every year. July crawled by, filled with long, lazy days. Then you turned the calendar page to August, the back-to-school ads began to appear in the paper and before you knew where it went the summer was almost gone. This year, with the bake sale scheduled for Labor Day weekend, it seemed worse than usual and all too soon she found herself readying the house for the taste-testing meeting. She kept telling herself that nobody was going to examine her housekeeping, and since her assignment was dog treats it was unlikely anybody would actually taste them. She had a free pass, so to speak, so why was she practically trembling when she opened the door and saw Chris standing there?
    “Everything ready, Lucy?” asked Chris, lugging in a case of bottled water.
    “The coffee pot is ready to go,” said Lucy, annoyed to find herself practically standing at attention.
    “No coffee, tonight, I think. We don’t want to confuse our taste buds. That’s why I brought water.”
    “Oh, good idea,” said Lucy, with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. Sure, it was decaf, but she could sometimes fool herself into thinking it was real coffee with an actual caffeine boost.
    “What, no coffee?” It was Sue, practically stepping on Chris’s heels and carrying an attractively arranged plate of Better-than-Sex Brownies as well as a pan of Rocky Road Fudge.
    “We don’t want to confuse our taste buds,” said Lucy, echoing Chris. “We’re having water instead.”
    “My taste buds never get confused,” said Sue, checking to make sure the coffee pot was ready to go and then switching it on. “Now where do you want these babies?”
    Lucy resisted the urge to check with Chris and told Sue to put them